Trolley-pole reverser for electric tramways.



EATENTED EEE. 24, 1903.

E. E. WAEE'. TEoLLEY POLE EEVEESEE EOE ELECTRIC TEAMWA'YS.

OATION FILED DBO. 22.1902.

No MQDEL.

witnesses. i

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^ UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

QFRANICISVERNIEST WARD, OF OHELTENHAM, ENGLAND.

TROLLEY-POLI-i'I REvERsER Fon ELECTRIC TRAMwAYs.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent N o. 721,529, datedFebruary 24, 1903. Application filed December 22,1902. Serial No.136,254. @lo model.)

To all whom t may concern,.- l

Be it known that I, FRANCIS ERNEST WARD, bank accountant, a subject ofthe King of Great Britain, residing at l Royal Crescent,

Cheltenham, in the county of Gloucester, England, have invented acertain new and useful Trolley-Pole Reverser for Electric Tramways, ofwhich the-following is a speciiication.

My invention consists of thesimple and effective apparatus or appliancehereinafter set forth and claimed for automatically reversing atrolley-pole of an electricrtram-car or the like without in any Waydisconnecting the said pole from the overhead currentconductingWires'its trolley end transverses, the said apparatus or appliance beingin electrical communication with and practically forming a part of thesaid wires.

A trolley-pole, as aforesaid, usually trails in contact with theoverhead wires, and when required to be reversed for the car to make areturn journey, or to be shunted off in another direction, as at terminiand junctions, or for other purposes, it is usually disconnected fromthe current-conducting wires by hand and swung or thrownover to theother side of the car, where it is againrnade to engage the said wires.Duringv the time the trolley-pole is disconnected from thecurrentconducting wires all current to the car is cut olf, which meansthat at night the cars lights are for a time extinguished. Further, theconnection of the trolley-pole to the Wires again after it has beenswung over from the one side of the car to the other requires some careand at night-time is particularly difcult to accomplish.v

The apparatus or appliance according to the invention isf shown appliedin the accompanying sheet of drawings by three diagrammatic plans,Figures l, 2, and 3, Fig. l being to a single overhead-wire system, andFigs. 2 and 3 to double overhead-wire systems.

The apparatus comprises in substance a Current-carrying guide wirebranching off from the main V wire (or from one of the main wires, ifthere aretwo) atan angle with said one main wire and again leading ontothe said main wire (or onto the other main wire, if two'are used) afterbranching off a certain distance, such guide-wire being in electricalcommunication with the main Wire or wires at all times and so formingpart of it or them that the trolley or the trolley-pole wheel can traveltherealong and be reversed thereby without electrical communicationbetween the car and the main wires being stopped, such reversing beingquite automatic.

The appliance or apparatus preferably comprises a triangle or similarwire frame applied to the main wire, so that one of the sides of thetriangle forms a part of the main wire; but the said appliance orapparatus comprehends other modifications.

In the arrangement of the apparatus, Fig. 1, a is the maincurrent-conducting wire, and c is the appliance orapparatus, which, asbefore set forth, is a triangular frame composed of sides c2 c3 c4. Thisframe is so applied to the wire a that the side c3 of it practicallyforms part of the main wire a. From the outer point c5 of the triangularframe extends a straight extension c6 of the frame, this eX- tension andthe frame being in electrical communication with the main wire a.Suitable frogs are placed at the points C5, c7, and o8 of the triangularframe c, the same allowing the 'traveling of the trolley or trolley polealong the wired and along the frame C in the manner hereinafter defined.

The dotted lines d represent the rails lupon which the car travels. Nowassuming e to be a terminus and that the car is traveling in thedirection of the large arrow e2, the trolleypole, which is trailed,travels the main Wire a, as Arepresented at f, travels the frame c, as

represented at f2, and then assumes the posi--A tion at f3', with thecar stopped at the terminus. The direction of traveling of the carcarryingthe pole is now reversed,which causes the said pole to be pushedbackward along the wire a until it arrives at the point c7 of thevtriangular frame, when .the frog at that point forces it to travelalong the side c2 of said frame in the manner indicated atl g. After thesaid pole has traveled the sa'id'c2 it comes into the position asindicated by g2 and then by the compelling actionof the frog at c5 ismade to travel the side c4 of the frame c, as shown at g3, and againonto the main wire ct on the other side of the appliance or apparatus,as shown at g4, it being thus seen that during the return travel of thecar past the apparatus or appliance the trolley-pole has beenautomatically swung over and reversed without any electricaldisconnection. The parts h are simply stays to the sides of the frame c.The frog applied at the point c8 of the frame compels the trolley-polewheel to travel along the side c3 of the frame when the car moves in thedirection of the arrow e2. The frame c is suitably supported, so that itis more or less a rigid structure applied at the side of the main wire.

In the arrangement of the invention shown in Fig. 2 there are two maincurrent-conducting wires 7L and h and two sets of car-rails 't' and t'.7c is the reversing-frame, applied between the wires h andt, it havingat the points 7c', 7a2, and 71:3 suitable frogs. 7a4 is the straightextension of said frame k. Assuming frame 7s to he at an intermediatepoint in the cars route and that the car carrying the trolley-pole Zisrunning on the rails t' in the direction of the arrow and is required tomake a return journey from this intermediate point, the said car afterthe trolley-pole wheel has passed the frog 7.9 commences its returnjourney on the rails t', and the trolley-pole is thrown over andreversed by traveling the sides Z55 and k6 of said frame 7s and is madeto engage the return main wire 71.', the car traveling the cross-rails Zonto the returnrails t". The action of the frame 7c in throwing over thetrolley-pole is the same as in the arrangement of the inventiondescribed in Fig. l.

In the arrangement of the invention illustrated by Fig. 3 thereverser-frames m are provided at each terminus 'n and n', the overheadmain conducting-wires being in double order o and o. The action of theseframes m for throwing over the trolley-pole is just the same as theaction of the ones previously described, the one on the left-hand sideof the drawing reversing the pole at the junction 1t and transferring itfrom the wire o to the wire o and the one on the right-hand side of thedrawing reversing the pole at the junction n and transferring it fromthe wire o to the wire o', suitable frogs being placed at the points m',fm2, and m3. In this Fig. 3 the dotted lines p represent thetrolley-poles, their positions being indicated while the car istraveling the rails in the direction of the respective arrows.

In Figs. l, 2, and 3 the trolley-wheels are denoted, respectively, by s,s', and s2.

Having now described and ascertained the nature of my said invention,whatI claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. For overhead electrical tramways and railways, an automatic reverserfor a trolley or similar current-conducting pole, consisting of anapparatus or appliance in the form of a current-carrying guide-wire,applied to the main current-carrying wire so that it branches off fromsaid main wire at an angle for a distance and then proceeds onto thesaid main wire again or onto another main wire, the said guide-wirebeing always in electrical communication with the said main wire orwires, and being traversed by the trolley-pole at the time the car istraveling in a reverse direction substantially as described.

2. An automatic reverser for trolley and other current-conducting polesfor overhead electric tramways and railways, consisting of aguiding-frame along which a trolley-pole or trolley-pole wheel cantravel during the movement of a car, and by which the said pole isautomatically thrown or swung over and reversed during a short returnmove ment of the car, and which is in electrical communication at alltimes with the straight current-conducting overhead main wire or wires,substantially as described and illustrated.

3. An automatic trolley-pole reverser for overhead electrical tramwaysand railways, consisting of a guiding-frame placed at the side 0f theordinary main current-conducting wire or wires and along which thetrolleywheel of a trolley-pole can travel, the said frame having curvedsides which are adapted during a short return movement of the car toguide the trolley-pole sidewise and outwardly from the main wire to itsfull length and to return it reversed onto the same or another mainconducting-wire, the said guiding-frame being at all times in electricalcommunication with the main wire or wires.'

In testimony whereof I have hereunto 'set my hand in presence of twosubscribing witnesses.

' FRANCIS ERNEST WARD.

Vitnesses:

ERNEST FRANK Lnwis, RICHARD ARTHUR GoDMAN.

IDO

